I recall blogging about being green and trying to contribute to saving our aina. I called that post Upcycling. One example of our efforts is how we recycle paper. For the past three years I insist on saving ‘scrap’ paper. We get lots and lots of faxes and many are cover pages. As long as there is no patient information printed, I ask the staff to add them to our ‘scrap’ bin. We also collect printed pages that are not needed or printed in error. Once the pile is thick enough, I either use it to make telephone triage sheets or create pads of scrap paper. I then take the pile to Office Max to have it cut.

Initially I used binder clips to hold the pads together. Then a friend told me about padding compound. Fisher Hawaii sometimes carries it. You simply smear the glue-like substance across your pad and let it dry. Sounds easy? Well, it turned out to be quite a process for me. After having the paper cut, I would divide them into one-half inch stacks. I could only make eight pads at a time because I only own four barbells heavy enough to weigh down the pads. I spread them out all over my living room. But first I would sacrifice a few pages of scrap paper to protect my floor from oozing compound. After letting them dry for several hours, I could then repeat the process.

Today another friend told me about a contraption she uses to do the very same thing. It is called a padding press. Hers is by Ellison and is retired now. The others that I found online easily cost over $100. No thank you. Then during my google search of ‘padding press’ I noticed a YouTube video called PAD MAGIC. Well, that sounded intriguing enough to click on. And there I saw my next purchase. It was amazing! In four minutes this man on the video does what it takes me hours to do. Best of all, he brilliantly pads the top and bottom of his stack and THEN cuts it into quarters. So my next step is to ask Office Max if they are willing to cut through padding compound. If not, using this press to bind my small pads would still save me time, effort and hassle. I can hardly wait! Stay tuned to see if it works as well as I hope that it will. Ingenious!